The core mission of the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College is to produce innovative, responsible, and global leaders who impact their organizations and communities.
The Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College, located just outside of Orlando in Winter Park, is a graduate business school known for its personal and applied approach to learning, and its premier suite of education offerings for executives.
Featuring distinguished faculty from around the world, Crummer is home to four graduate degree programs—including the state’s #1-ranked full-time MBA program and Florida’s first AACSB-accredited executive doctoral program in business administration—as well as professional development and executive education programming offered through its acclaimed Centers of Excellence.
An integral part of the Crummer Graduate School of Business is the Center for Advanced Entrepreneurship, which provides a variety of practical experiences, both in and out of the classroom. The mission of the Center for Advanced Entrepreneurship is to educate and connect students and entrepreneurs for advanced entrepreneurial thought and action.
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LEARNING FROM DISTINGUISHED FACULTY
Crummer’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Dr. Peter McAlindon, brings 20 years of successful entrepreneurial venture creation to the graduate school. McAlindon is the founder and chief executive officer of Blue Orb Inc., a company that develops computer technology for persons with disabilities. Blue Orb’s flagship product, the orbiTouch Keyless Keyboard, was developed for people who do not have full use of their hands or fingers to use a regular mouse or keyboard. The orbiTouch has received numerous industry awards, including the “Best of Innovations” award at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show.
For many up-and-coming entrepreneurs, Dr. McAlindon serves as the contact point and as an advisor.
Sergie Albino `10MBA, is just one of the many entrepreneurs that have leveraged the Center for Advanced Entrepreneurship and Dr. McAlindon’s expertise to launch his own company, EcoSPEARS. An environmental solutions company, EcoSPEARS provides polluted waterways with a second chance at life using the extraction “spears” technology at a fraction of the cost of dredging, without disturbing the ecosystem.
Albino’s path to starting EcoSPEARS began in 2012 when NASA reached out to Crummer with a patent portfolio. They asked Crummer to assemble student teams to discover if there was any commercial applicability to the many patents they developed.
As a former NASA subcontractor himself, Albino took the technology called SPEARS and pushed it through two rounds of student-led research.
“In the first semester of this effort, it really dawned on us that this does have market potential,” said Dr. McAlindon.
Today, ecoSPEARS has enjoyed the success of securing enough angel investors to hire eight full-time employees, many part-time employees, and to have their own workspace in Altamonte Springs, FL as they look to change the world.
A COMMITMENT TO WOMEN IN BUSINESS
Women in business are also an important aspect of the Center for Advanced Entrepreneurship’s mission.
Since 2006, the ATHENAPowerLink program, in partnership with the Center for Advanced Entrepreneurship, has been guiding female entrepreneurs to accelerate their growth and increase their profitability.
The ATHENAPowerLink clients are hand-selected through an interview process and at no charge, receive business advice from the most successful business minds in Central Florida during a 12-month period.
“Our first year of ATHENAPowerLink was the first year we had seen growth in five years,” said Donna Best, CEO of Merit Fasteners. “It truly was the turning point of our 41-year old family business.”
A COLLABORATIVE WORKSPACE
Another advantage for student entrepreneurs at Crummer in the early phases of their business startups is the opportunity to work out of a shared workplace in Winter Park.
Coworking Winter Park is a nonprofit coworking space for entrepreneurs that is dedicated to supporting Orlando’s startup community and growing the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Central Florida.
The partnership between the Crummer Graduate School of Business and Coworking Winter park allows select students to work out of the incubator space.
For these student entrepreneurs, having a designated place to develop and grow their business ideas free-of-charge is vital as they build their businesses from the ground up.
